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RISK IS GOOD FOR YOU
NIGEL EATON, EDITOR
WHAT ARE THE REAL DANGERS OF SCUBA-DIVING? That was the question put to me recently by a newspaper journalist investigating the reality behind the events portrayed in the movie Open Water.
While conceding that certain elements of the ordeal faced by the unhappy divers in the story were only too plausible, I naturally pointed out that the threat posed by sharks and other marine animals is notoriously overstated.
Factors such as poor air management, underlying health problems and lack of appropriate training for the type of diving being tackled were, I explained, more common causes of diving deaths.
I also highlighted boat-diving as a specific risk - the problem being not just that the boat might not be there when you want it to be, but also that it might be too close for comfort if sea conditions turn nasty, or the skipper decides to manouvre at the wrong moment.
Following this conversation, it struck me that I might have mentioned another point regarding diving accidents.
This was simply that the majority of people known to me personally who have lost their lives diving have had one thing in common - they have all operated at the extreme edges of our sport.
Perhaps I was right to not make too much of this, because my contacts in the diving world are not typical. Nevertheless, I found it useful to reflect that a disproportionate number of diving deaths have always occurred among the technical divers, deep divers, cave divers and free divers who set themselves unusual challenges under water.
Can it be said that these divers often become tempted into taking risks for risk's sake? Perhaps so, but it's also worth remembering that, at the other end of the scale, a life devoid of risk is not worth getting out of bed for.
With all this in mind, it's interesting to note the launch of a parliamentary initiative that aims to push outdoor adventure higher up the UK political agenda. According to the All Party Adventure and Recreation Group (see www. campaignforadventure.org), the nation's increasing tendency to protect people from danger is being carried too far, leading to "an increasingly restrictive, even pessimistic, approach to life".
Or as supporter Sir Chris Bonington rightly puts it: "people benefit from more adventure and challenges in their life. Such challenges do not come without some degree of risk, but this is what actually makes life fun, exciting and ultimately rewarding, rather than bland and mundane."
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